The Rotary Club of Anaheim was chartered on May 1, 1921. Its first meetings were held at the Cherry Blossom Café. It continues to meet on Mondays at noon, but have been held at various locations over the years: Anaheim Elks Club, Disneyland Hotel, Grand Hotel, Phoenix Club, West Coast Anaheim hotel, Diamond Club of Angel Stadium, The City National Grove of Anaheim, JT Schmid’s Restaurant & Brewery, and a new location to be decided soon.

Major local projects during its history have been providing and serving the food for the Braille Institute’s Annual Holiday Luncheons and for special Olympic’s basketball competitions, the Anaheim Halloween Festival’s Pancake Breakfast, giving pine seedlings to 3rd grade students on Arbor day, Paint Your Heart Out Anaheim, Scouting for Food, Mervyn’s/Salvation Army Shopping Sprees, Anaheim rotary’s Annual Golf Classics, the Forest Ranger’s vs. Kiwanis Donkey Basketball Games that benefited Motels Kids activities in Anaheim. More recent projects include Back Packs for Kids, Building Outdoor skills, Adopt-A-Neighborhood, and Beautification at the Salvation Army Emergency Homeless Shelter, which are described on the Project Page.

Internationally, the Club has contributed trash trucks to Zitacuaro Rotary Club in Mexico for use in their city, sponsored wells in South Sudan, participated in home builds in Mexico, and helped sponsor dental clinics in Mexico and Central America. These clinics were, and till are, organized and led by an Anaheim Rotarian dentist and utilize volunteer dental students. These clinics have also been held in many elementary schools throughout the Anaheim area. See the projects page for descriptions of the most recent and on-going International Projects.

Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for over 30 years, and the Rotary goal of ridding the earth of this disease is in sight. Rotary started in 1979 with vaccinations for 6 million children in the Philippines. Today, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic. The first Club event to benefit the eradication of polio was held in 1987 and was hosted by Gene Autry. The Club continues to support the Rotary Foundation in its efforts to eradicate polio.

In addition to Rotary Projects, the Club has proudly contributed money, goods and manpower to the activities of several service organizations, including, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Y.M.C.A., Boy and Girls Clubs, North County Community Concerts, Leadership of Anaheim, Miracle League, and Love Anaheim.

Over the years, the Club has included a variety of persons, including, Disneyland a local Studebaker distributor, physicians, attorneys, real estate professionals, teacher, a Disneyland executive, engineers, hospitality professionals, Police officers and retired military. All are Welcome!

Now entering its second century, the Club continues to adhere to the Rotary International Mission to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.